Anyway, I had two weeks off from work and it was nirvana, I tell you.  But the funny thing was, I thought I was going to be up in the studio most of the time, but it never really worked out that way.  Three of us got the flu and that set me back a week, daughter home from college, cooking, gathering.. and on and on.  So, here I am almost 2 months later from starting my canvas….  Nuff of that…  moving on now…

So, last time, I left you with the latest canvas I started.  Click HERE to remember.

I took more still shots  of my work, but not every single step in my progress.  I got so caught up in the fun creative process.  But, I have a surprise for you at the end of this blog.

Here we go…

So, here is the progress about 3/4 the way through.

I made some flower stems from fabric that I loaded up with gel medium and let them dry.  Then ripped a lace-like tablecloth in a strip and diluted it with paint for the “grass” for the flowers.  You’ll see in a minute.

I forgot to mention that I cut a necklace chain for the stem of the bottom flower.  Bracelets for the ground of smaller flowers that were actually bobby pins.

Then I made my polymer clay leaves for the flowers.  I must say, stamping into clay is so fun.  In the center flower at the top of the canvas, I also stamped text into the leaves.  I am loving that look.   I may take a small portion of a larger rubber stamp and if I don’t particularly like the stamp anymore, I’ll cut the section off that I like.   A small detailed scissors is great to cutting around a clay stamped image.

To see my tutorial on how I make my “Buttons ‘n bellishments, GO HERE.  This shows you the button process, but can be used the same for embellishments.

Here are some final pictures, but at the end, I’ll take you through the process with a surprise.

On my wall….

.. and finally, what I have been working on all day… a short video of me going through my canvas.  A few corrections on words I noticed I should have fixed, but I had already done the video once before, so I kept it in. It’s just me talkin it up with you.   I hope you enjoy and would love some comments.

MixedMediaCanvas by Judy Shea 12112 from Judy Shea on Vimeo.

As always, thank you for stopping by and sharing this blog adventure with me.

Judy ♥

I took on a challenge to start of large canvas measuring 24″ x 30″.  Not as easy as gluing, painting and collaging things on it like my other smaller works.  There are bigger spaces and I do the blank stare.  You know the look I”m talking about?  What the hell am I going to put in that big space?  Well, let me show you how it started and where I am with it now.

I gessoed the canvas then put on molding paste to get some texture on the surface.

I put a wash of quinacridone nickel azo gold paint then added Cobalt Teal in certain areas using Golden Fluid Acrylics.

So far so good, right?   Then I added some more texture with molding paste, stencils, doilies.

Then I added “Wood Icing” texture.

Here’s what the canvas looked like after the texture pastes.

Ok.. then I added two fleur di lis with molding paste, stained the wood icing and then I went on to painting the checkerboard and the fleur de lis…   Some parts I’m loving.. some.. eh.. not so much..

I am not liking the checkerboard… too overpowering.. so I”m going over it with a blue crackle paste.  I know, I know.. don’t worry.. it’ll be ok.

While the crackle paste was still wet, I ran a metal comb around in a cirle to give a spiral effect. Cool.

Here’s what the crackle paste looked like after it dried.  Love it.

Next up was to add some fabric to the canvas.  I used a caulking I bought at a dollar store a few years ago.  Works great.. strong bond.  I don’t stay with necessarily one product for adhesives.  I use gel medium, caulking and one of my favorites, “Weldbond“.

Let me stop here and tell you how much I changed on this canvas.  I got so engrossed into it that I didn’t take some pictures.  BUT… after I covered the checkerboard, I painted over the doily texture, then I put gold leaf on it.. then I put fabric over that.  Next, I painted over the wood icing, then I put fabric upholstery over the bottom half of that. I just was not liking where everything was falling.  I have a larger space towards the bottom that I’m not sure how that will flow.

So, here is the rest of the pix I took and then the last one is where is stands now.

Below, you can see I added more fabric and one of my coffee filter art pieces, and modeling cream by Viva Decor.

I pushed white acrylic paint into the crackle paste section then wiped it off.  The white sank into the cracks.  You can see the fabric to the bottom left and the roses on top.  Also in that area, I added an old paper doily piece that was ripped.

I also added cheese cloth to the large space on the bottom right and gold leaf.

See..this is what I mean.. bigger is not better, it’s a bit intimidating.  But, I am convinced that I will finish this and once I do, I’ll feel confident to tackle another one.

See what I mean about all the open space…. dun dun dun…. (insert scream here).

My plan is to get this done while I am on vacation from work.  I still have so much to do to it…collage papers, polymer clay…. I can’t wait to find out what I’ll do next.   I’ll blog my final pictures.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE !!!

Thanks for subscribing and stopping by.

Judy ♥ ♥

Well, I did get up in the studio this weekend.  I started to play around in one of my small water color notebooks.. about 5″ x 4″.   I smooshed around some paint then added some old dictionary pages to the surface.  I began to draw a face.. nothing fancy, as I am not a good drawer.. just funky fun.. and it grew into this little girl with a dictionary dress and arms.. then I kept going with colors and embellishments.  Look how she turned out..  She a cutie patootie.  I plan on mailing this to a family member of mine… surprise.

This happens to me all the time.  I have a slight plan to start a project then I get up in studio and I do something completely different with no planning whatsoever.   So…. I picked up a large blank pre-made journal (8″ x 11 1/2″).  It was all black and very lonely.  I decided to mix media the heck out of it.

Here’s how it evolved:

Here is the journal.. very basic.. inside is just lined pages.

I began to glue the following:  left over paper towels from clean up, lace papers, fabric pieces, doilies, decorative papers, lace, polymer clay, resin music paper, burlap, coffee filter pieces and tissue paper casting (center piece) that I made.  I added some paint (cobalt teal) in spots that were white or bare..  Then I added a strip of checkerboard duct tape to the binding.

Watch the progress:  and click on picture for close ups and then juicy close up towards the end.

Juicy close up alert on the following pictures.. click and click.

I sprayed PYMII on all my work to seal it.

I hope you enjoyed that progress of my journal cover.  It felt good to get messy again and up in the “Judio”.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Thanks also for your patience while I have not posted.

I have been waiting for this weekend to be here for a while now.  Being gone for a week on a business trip and then having Thanksgiving here at the house has been weighing on my mind (in a good way).. and now, it’s over and I can finally get back in the studio… I think.

Back to my art – Day 1:

Here it is.. early evening, Saturday 11/26.  Can I be honest here?  Thank you.  This hiatus I’ve been on from my art has really put me in a funk.  Where in the world did my “moju” go?   My “get up and go.. got up and went”.    Well, that has to stop now too.  I started to write this blog, but now I will stop to go upstairs to see what I can start to create.

Back to my art – Day 2:

Sunday, 11/27… Taking Megan back to Maine to college.  Do I have any energy to drag my body back up in the studio when I get back… let’s see.

So, I did end up playing around a bit in the studio..

First, I took a small Moleskine notebook I got on my business trip and altered the front and back.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE AND SEE DETAILS.

This small notebook measures 5″ x 3″.

I started with a white gesso layer on the front and back covers (I’m thinking I should have used black).  Next layer of paint was colbalt teal (my fav).. then I added clear crackle medium.  Once that dried.. I rubbed in some dark brown acrylic paint into the cracks and wiped it off.  Once dry, I rubbed in some acrylic white paint and wiped that off.   I wanted to get the brown and white into the crevices of the cracks.  Added letters, as you can see and rubbed a little of distress ink on them to age them.  Then I took red acrylic paint and dipped a credit card edge on it and made some streaks.

On the back of the book, I glued an image and painted around the edge of the image to blend it in with the teal.  I added lace paper with gel medium.  Love that look.. one of my favorites.  Also, added a piece of an old doily to the back.

I may add some polymer clay buttons or some gems to finish this off.

Next……

Now, I’m working on an old passport covers that I got from my mom.  So far, I painted it with white acrylic paint, let dry.. then spread on some maroon molding paste and tapped it with a palette knife with black paint.

This passport measures about 5″x3″.  Maybe add some fabric or poly clay B&B’s (“Button n’bellishments” – my handmade polymer clay pieces).

I’m not done with these little books, but I wanted to show you what I’ve done so far.

More…..

After dropping my daughter off in Maine, we went to a store that has remnants of fabric for really cheap prices.. and then… they have fabric bolts of all kinds for $3.99 a yard.. yes, that’s what I said.  Here are a couple remnants I picked up.

Aren’t they cool?  I love that the music fabric is not consistent in some areas.  I imagine doing a simple fabric dye with walnut ink to stain it.  Can I get an “ahhhh…. ohhhh”?

So.. I feel like sharing in my good deals and in honor of turkeys, my art funk, back to blogging and my readers, I’d like to do a give -a-way of some of my favorite fabrics pieces.  I just love incorporating them in my mixed media work.

As a matter of fact, I purchased 6 yards of fabric for some curtains I’m putting (having made) in my family room.  I’m going to take the excess fabric and add it to a new mixed media canvas I plan on making for the room.  I need to get some art in that room since it’s been painted.

Ok ok.. off track again…  back to the give a way……

If you’d like to win some of my favorites fabric pieces, leave a comment on this post (U.S. only, please.. sorry) and I’ll choose a winner this weekend. (pssst… come closer.. I may add some other goodies too).  After all, we mixed media junkies need more stuff, don’t we?

That’s it for now.. as always.. thanks for stopping by and hanging in there with me.  You’re the best!!

Judy ♥

Wow.. what a couple of crazy weeks, I tell you.  Between working my day job and surviving the New England October snowstorm with no electricity, I have been completely un-creative.  I’ve lost my MoJu (get it? instead of  “mojo”   MoJu for Judy?).  No?

Just when we were enjoying our New England Walk, a freak Nor’easter hits us like we never expected.

I took a few pictures to capture what was going on.

The night of the storm, outside my front door in the flower garden:

Kind of pretty at night like this.  You can see my roses peeking out from the blanket of snow.   We really didn’t get a lot of snow.. about 6″, but the weight of the snow and the leaves that hadn’t fallen yet, is what did all the damage.

As we drove out of town, we took a couple of pictures along the way.

This is only a couple a SEVERAL trees that obstructed our roads.  Lots of wires were down on the roads also.

Check this tree out.  We actually drove underneath it which was probably not a good idea.

Many towns were out of power for about a week… and I believe that most have their power back.   The roads are still a bit messy and it’s disappointing that they are still not entirely cleared yet.  This is only the beginning of the season.  One can only hope these towns have their acts together and prepare for a tough winter so we can avoid another outage.

But, really, this is nothing compared to the devastating and tragic occurences that have happened in other parts of our country and around the world.  I am grateful that this is all that happened.  Just because I could never be a pioneer woman, doesn’t mean I can’t whine about it.

Well, Dixie doesn’t care.. she’s just glad to be home sleeping on her warm pillow… what a life!   Love the tongue.

Before the storm hit, I was able to get in the studio to create a few hand-made embellishments.

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If you follow my blog, you know how I just enjoy making these.  I love to manipulate them to make them my own. You can see that I added cheeks to the faces. I have many molds that I made when I first began working with polymer clay about 10 years ago.  I recall bringing wads of it with me wherever I went and when I saw a cool texture, I’d impressed it and carefully take the clay home to bake.  Yes, my family thought I was coo coo.

I probably won’t post for about two weeks now as I have a business trip coming up and then a week off to prepare for Thanksgiving at my home this year.  HELP!   I plan on getting in some studio time after the holiday since it will be a long weekend.  No Black Friday shopping for me…. no sir eee.

Thanks for your patience, everyone, and for stopping by to see if I was still in existence.

Judy ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The colors this years are not the greatest, but remember saying that last year and then two weeks later, it was vibrant.  But, we had such a harsh summer with the heat, that the trees got a beating.  Did I say that last year too?  Check out last year’s posts HERE and HERE – wow pretty last year.

Ok, ready?  C’mon.. bundle up.. it’s chilly and keep up.

Let’s start out heading down the road from our street… take a left..

I’m trying to get the effect of the “tunnel of trees”.   Are you feeling it?

There’s a little color, but no bigness here…. keep on going.. I tried to get some bigger trees…

I just love that this back hoe is just sitting there for years, nature growing all around it.  Don’t you wonder why someone left it there… Isn’t John Deere missing one?

Ok.. that’s better… close up next…

Let’s go down the road some more here.. we’ve only just begun.

And.. look what I came across.. tried to shoot a short video…

Ahh.. wasn’t that nice?  Thought you’d like that… c’mon there’s more…

Crossing over into the next town… my feet hurt.

That rusted horseshoe has been there for months, untouched.  I thought about grabbing it to make something out of it.. but it seems to belong there.

The honor system.

.. and there’s another piece of equipment.. an old tractor.  I think it actually works.

You with me still?  I know it’s a long walk, but don’t you feel good?  My feet hurt.

Oh, and look who took a quick top to check us out.  Cute.

I know, I know.. there are a lot of pictures… I’ve really cut some out too.  Hang in there with me, please.

Now, this tree is the same one in my post from last year.  Look at the difference in the colors.  Maybe it will pop in a week or so.

Once we get over this little hill, I have a surprise for you… watch..

It’s Laverne & Shirley (I actually just made that up..I don’t know their names).  They were never out this summer on my walks.. but so glad they came out for us today.

..and I took a little video for you

Enjoy that?

Ok, let’s turn around and go home…

It’s getting there…

..and there you have it… you just did about 4 miles.   Thanks for joining me.  I wish the colors were more fantastic for you this year, but it gives you the feeling of our Fall season right now.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Now go relax and drink your water… My feet hurt.

Thanks for walking by.

Judy ♥

Anyhoo… I want to share some lovely photos of a recent gathering I went to.  It was the Rhode Island Polymer Clay Guild’s 12th Anniversary.  I used to be part of the team there, but I stepped away about 4 years ago.  However, I do still keep in touch with the fabulous ladies there and they invited me back for the soiree.  We all brought some food.  The ladies all brought their art and I did not.  I just talked for about 6 hours.  What?

Here are some goodies that everyone one brought:

HULLO?  It was fantastic.  Thanks ladies for being such wonderful hosts… Toine, Bobbie, Sandy, Dora, Pat, Rita and Toni.

Some of the women there do more than just polymer clay.  The creativity and skills are vast, I tell you, in this small group.

I took some pictures that really inspired me.

Toine is a creative soul in that, if she could, would make her own shoes.  She’s told me this a few times.  That just amazes me.  She showed me a travel mini- watercolor paint palette that she made out of an mini eye shadow case.

You basically dig out the old eye shadow powders and fill the empty sections with watercolor tube paint and let dry.  She even uses the eye shadow brush as the paint brush.  You could just buy one of these eye shadow minis at a dollar store too.

Toine shared a site with me on how to make one.. it’s called INSTRUCTABLES.. great site to learn from.  I’m definitely trying this.   I just love this idea!

Toine also made her own mini watercolor pad.  It was about 3×4.  You can see it sitting next to her palette.  Another thing I must try.  Check out this one also at INSTRUCTABLES.

My partner in crime, Bobbie, was working on a new bracelet made out of buttons.  I recently sent Bobbie a bunch of my “buttons n’bellishments”.  She took my homemade polymer buttons and mixed them with regular buttons and hand sewed them to a thick black cloth elastic band.   I had made one in the past out of my polymer buttons, but hers came out much nicer.  I had too much space and you could see all the black band.

The red, turquoise, and bone-like buttons are the ones I made out of polymer clay.

Bobbie.. this came out deliciously gorgeous.  The trick to hers was the overlapping of the buttons so when you put it on your wrist, it didn’t stretch out and show the band.

Bobbie is also taking up water color painting.  Look at these beautiful pages she made that just made me salivate… ew.. not really… I behaved.

My creative juices went nuts when I saw these… oh the things I could do with those.  I can’t wait to see what she does with them.  It’s endless.

In other creativity news, I turn to children.  My great niece, Riley, is a great little artist.  I promised her I would take a picture of her door art at home.  Her creations here range over the past year from home art, pre-school and now kindergarten.  I share this now, with you, my blog friends.

Riley and her mom.

Mom, Christina, is another creative soul.  I guess it runs in the family.  You can see one of Christina’s creations HERE ..when she made me a special fabric card for my 50th birthday.

RILEY’s ART:

Isn’t Riley just awesome?  Look at these colors, people.  Don’t you think we should all display our art this way in our homes?   Don’t ever stop creating Riley.  I love you so much…. Love,  Auntie Judy.

I hope you are inspired.  Go make a mini water color palette or a button bracelet.  Be inspired by children’s art.

Thanks for stopping by and leave some comments for Riley.. she will love to read them.

Judy♥

Click here to enter the Art Blog Hop

When is that last time you went to a Hop?  An Art Blog Hop, that is…come join me and other art bloggers for some hopping around to beautiful, creative blogs.

If you have an art blog,  join us.  If not, just go to the Art Blog Hop and have fun ooo’ing and ahhh’ing at all the awe inspiring blogs.

I leave you with this;  I thought it was appropriate and I hope Mary loves it.  Mary is the owner of the ABH.  Thanks, Mary for being such a great hostess.

Many of you will remember this.. some of you will say.. “who the hell is that and what kind of music is this”.

Thanks for hopping by.. get it “hopping” instead of “stopping”??

Judy ♥

I had the pleasure of going there recently with a good friend of mine, Amy.  No, I was not paid to talk about Nesting, I just wanted to put the warmth of their store in my blog.  Of course, I asked permission to do so and they were thrilled.

So, without further ado.. enjoy the journey..

Wasn’t that fun???  Now, if you live in Massachusetts, look up Concord, MA and get yourself to Main Street and check out Nesting in person.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy ♥

(my daughter’s hands; she drew the name)

Mandy Currie…. OMG how exciting!   Mandy, send me your home address to my email at judysheart@gmail.com and I’ll get your chock full package out to you.   Besides my “buttons n’bellishments”, I’ve put together a bunch of fun materials for you to start playing with your new mixed media creations.

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And speaking of creations, this is my new mixed media piece that I just finished.  This is just one thing you can do with  “Button n’bellishments”.  I had a vision about a beautiful woman who had hair made of my handmade b&b’s.  This was just FUN FUN FUN!!!

Click picture for details and a closer look.  Measures 9′x 12′

Now… don’t get all excited and think that I drew this woman’s face.. I did not!! It is a paintover.  I could not, for the life of me, draw a woman’s face that I was happy with… wait, let me rephrase that… I could not draw a woman’s face.. period…… so…..I found an unknown face in a magazine and did a gesso wash over it and drew over the features, enhancing them a bit more with paint, watercolor pencils and glitter.  I exaggerated her eyes and eyebrows completely.. redid her nose and lips.  I tinted the skin with watercolor pencils and made her eyes look like a showgirl in Vegas.  There is some texture left under the face that is showing some lumpiness that I’m not too thrilled with.. but I  certainly learned from that tiny mistake.. love when that happens.

All around her, I used fabric, ribbon, paper, doilies, lace, paint and glitter.  Underneath all of that is a layer of acrylic paint and gesso that I put on thick for texture then painted over that then added glitter.

Now, for the hair, I used my handmade polymer clay “button n’bellishments”.. and in between the clay pieces it filled it in with sead beads.

Yay.. she’s marvelous.. she’s going up on a wall in my house.

Thanks for visiting and for everyone who entered the give-a-way… THANK YOU.   Please stop by again… I’ll be doing more of that.

Judy ♥